Stop nuclear privatisation

by Ray Jones

The New Labour Government went into its first part privatisation last week 
— but hopefully not with a bang!

Even the Tories backed away from privatising the nuclear industry, but New 
Labour are going ahead and selling 49 per cent of British Nuclear Fuels 
(BNFL) to the private sector and hope to make L1.5 billion out of it.

At least the government has resisted splitting BNFL into profitable and 
unprofitable sectors. Both the growing reprocessing business and the 
elderly Magnox reactors are included in the 49 percent.

Unfortunately the 49 per cent is probably just the beginning and it is 
predicted that the remaining 51 per cent will follow soon.

Of course, Stephen Byers, Trade and Industry Secretary, is demanding 
targets on productivity, cost-cutting, health and safety and the 
environment.

But BNFL's record in all these areas in the past leaves much to be desired 
and taking the industry out of public control will not improve the 
situation.

Nuclear shipment

Greenpeace campaigners are planning to use their vessel Rainbow 
Warrior to harass a British convoy of ships due to sail this week to 
Japan with enough plutonium to make 60 nuclear bombs.

The campaigners hope to harass the vessel throughout its 20,000-mile 
journey, raising the prospect of conflict at sea. They claim the shipment 
from the BNFL plant at Sellafield in Cumbria undermines efforts to prevent 
the spread of nuclear weapons.

Greenpeace says the shipments represent "a recipe for disaster" and wants 
them banned.

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New Worker